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CHILDREN’S 

STORIES 



f o‘“ ^ 

A>^ELDERS 

•% 

EDITOR 


The Piedmont Herald 


1920 





Copyright 1920 
By A. Selders 


SEP 27 1920 

©CU597550 


ns' f 

I 





PREFACE 


In the following pages I 
have tried to present to the 
little children some stories that 
will interest them ; make them 
ask questions, and from which 
a good moral may be drawn. 

There are several typo- 
graphical errors and a number 
of transpositions. 

If we have succeeded in af- 
fording any amusement to 
them, we are satisfied. A. S. 




DEDICATED 
to my bright, clever, little 
grandchildren, Robert Selders 
Hall, Patricia Hall and John 
Broughten Hall. 

— By the Author. 




BOY AND THE BEAR 


These stories are original 
and are written by the editor 
of the paper. They have never 
been printed before. We will 
try and give a story weekly. 
If we can interest the little 
ones and present a good moral 
that can be drawn from it, our 
object will be obtained. 

Once upon a time there liv- 
ed on Spencer Creek in the 
valley near Buck Mountain 
and the Bundle mine a poor 
family, consisting of father, 
mother and nine children, 
ranging in age from 6 months 
to 16 years of age. They had 
moved in here from old Ken- 


tucky in a prairie schooner. 
They had a small log hut with 
some out sheds where the 
horses and cow and pigs were 
sheltered. 

The father worked in the 
Bundle mine along with his 
two older sons. The province 
of this story is only with prac- 
tically one member of this 
family. Little Joe. He was 
a little over six years old. He 
was a very peculiar boy. He 
was solitary in his habits, that 
is, he would go off by himself 
and very seldom played with 
the other children. 

The children all were serv- 
ed with some Johnny cake 
each afternoon about three 
o’clock. Joe would go off by 
himself and nothing would be 
seen of him until very near 
dark. His mother often won- 
dered where he went and what 
he did, but she did not have 
time to find out. 

During a winter along in 



’57 the snow came down with 
great fury and it was several 
feet deep upon the level. It 
was so deep that it caused the 
wild game to come down off 
the mountains, looking for 
some thing to eat. Bears, 
Wolves, deer and smaller game 
were in abundance in and 
around the home of Little Joe. 
In fact, so many were the 
bears and wolves that people 
hardly dared to go out of 
doors, unless armed with 
shooting irons. 

While this was all going on, 
Joe was getting his corn bread 
every day and slipping off to 
eat it. His mother becoming 
alarmed, for fear he might be 
ate up by the bears, decided 
she would try and find cut 
what he did with himself. So 
she watched him. He very 
secretly wriggled out to shed 
where the cow was kept and 
going on the outside his moth- 
er discovered him. Well, 


children, what do you think he 
was doing? Well, we will tell 
you. 

A great big bear was sitting 
down and Little Joe was feed- 
ing him the corn bread. He 
would fondle the bear and the 
bear would lick Joe’s hands 
with his large rough tongue. 
They would play together like 
a boy and a dog. 

After an hour or more of 
this play, Mr. Bear would start 
off and leave Little Joe. These 
impromptu meetings of the 
boy and bear kept up all win- 
ter and the bear appeared to 
be as punctual as clock work 
very afternoon. 

Well, Spring approached 
and Mr. Bear betook himself 
to the mountains and it was 
very seldom that he came 
down to the trysting place. 

Joe became more solitary 
than ever, he was almost mo- 
rose. One evening he was no- 
where to be found, the mother 


was almost frantic about his 
non-appearance. Every nook 
and corner around the house 
was looked over but no Joe to 
be found. 

A sleepless night was pass- 
ed by the mother. 

But what was Joe doing and 
where was he? 

Joe was lonesome after his 
play-fellow, the bear, had left 
him and he made up his mind 
he would go and find him. He 
wandered down the creek and 
finally went upon the moun-' 
tain among the pine forest 
trees. He wandered aimless- 
ly along, never noticing it was 
getting along towards night 
until it commenced to get 
dark. He then started to go 
back home, but he found he 
was lost. What to do he did 
not knov/. He sat down and 
commenced to cry. But only 
for a minute. Said he to him^ 
self this will never do, so he 
got up and again started to 



hunt his way back. It was no 
good, so he made up his mind 
to spend the night in the 
woods. 

He went along to find a nice 
bunch of leaves to nestle up in, 
as the nights were still chilly. 
As he walked along a small 
path along the side of the 
mountain, he saw a hole in the 
bank or rock. He decided 
that was the place for him to 
crawl into, which he did. He 
found a nice warm bunch of 
leaves a short way into the 
cave and a lay down and was 
soon fast asleep. He did not 
wake up till morning, when he 
felt something warm on his 
hands. He commenced to look 
around and see what it was. It 
was his friend, Mr. Bear. Mr. 
Bear had found Joe here. 

This was the bear's home or 
den. When the bear saw Joe 
he lay down side of him and 
drew him up to him and put 
his shaggy legs around him the 


same as if he had been a little 
bear. 

The bear got up as well as 
Joe. The bear had Joe get on 
his back and away they went 
down the mountain side, and 
in a few hours, Joe^s mother, 
looking out at the door was 
greeted by the glad sight of 
her little boy Joe on the back 
of a great big bear coming 
down the mountain. The bear 
came up to the house with his 
precious freight and was about 
to start off when Joe’s mother 
told Joe to have the bear wait 
a minute. Joe went and got 
him some water and his moth- 
er brought the bear some corn 
bread and honey. It would 
have done your heart good to 
see that bear eat. 

Every day for months the 
bear came down to Joe’s home 
daily. His visits were appre- 
ciated by the whole family. In 
fact he was a sort of an adopt- 
ed member. All at once his 


visits stopped. It was a mys- 
tery to the whole family. But 
after thorough investigation, 
it was found that a party of 
hunters had killed him up on 
the mountain. 

The moral to be drawn from 
this little story children, is, 
that you never lose anything 
by kindness to dumb animals 
as well as to human beings. 





A BIRD BASIN 


Once upon a time there was 
a little girl who liked the little 
birds. She was always cheer- 
ful wheh she heard the birds 
sing. She observed them in 
all their different moods. She 
became so familiar with their 
doings that she could almost 
tell when they were happy and 
when not. So closely did she 
watch them that she could tell 
when they were hungry and 
when they were thirsty. In 
winter time, when the snow 
was on the ground and there 
was scarcely anything that 
they could get to eat, she 
would throw out crumbs of 
bread. Daily the birds came 
to the back of her home and 
perched themselves on the lat- 
tice w'ork of the porch and if 
she did not come out and feed 



them, just when they thought 
they ought to get their rations, 
they commenced to sing with 
their loudest lays. 

After they had had their 
meal she set out a pan of tepid 
water for them to slack their 
thirst. 

The birds became so tame 
that she could almost put her 
hands upon them. No enemies 
of the birds were allowed to 
be around the home. She had 
no cat, as cats and birds are 
not good play fellows. The 
birds knew that no danger 
lul-ked around this home. And 
this little girl reaped her re- 
ard by having the trees around 
about her home inhabited by 
all kinds of song birds. She 
not only made home pleasant 
for herself but also for her pa- 
rents by so doing. 

In summer time she often 
saw that the birds would pant 
and have their mouths open as 
if wanting water. She pre- 


pared a bird basin — ^that is she 
fixed a basin out in the lawn 
on a pile of rocks with vines 
planted around it. The basin 
was always full of water and 
almost any hour of the day, 
the basin would be surrounded 
with birds, some drinking and 
some in the basin bathing. 

The birds knew where her 
room was and in the morning 
long before she got up, they 
would perch themselves m the 
apple tree near her window 
and sing like good little fel- 
lows. They would even light 
on her window sill. There 
were red birds, mocking birds, 
song sparrows and blue birds 
and in fact all kinds of birds. 

When she went to school in 
the morning thev would ac- 
company her. They would 
fly ahead of her, lighting cn 
the trees and fences and sing 
their sweetest songs. 

She did this way all through 
her girlhood and when she 


grew up she taught her little 
boys and girls to be kind to 
the birds and not rob thoir 
nests and always at her home 
some where in the yard, near 
the house a bird basin could 
always be found and no cat 
was given a home at that 
house. 

So children if you want to 
have the birds sing around 
your home, treat them right 
and they will be your friends. 
And the best way in the world 
to make friends with the little 
feathered songsters is to install 
a bird basin in your yard at 
home and keep it full of fresh 
water and soon the birds will 
find it and will make your 
your home their retreat. 


THE LITTLE DOG 


Once upon a time there liv- 
ed in the neighborhood of 
Uwharrie a little dog. He was 
extremely small and roamed 
but little because of the pug- 
nacious attitude of many larg- 
er dogs who chased and bark- 
ed at him wherever he went. 

Whenever he did meet 
trouble, a bee line for home 
was the order and a steady 
courageous bark was his stock 
in trade just as soon as home 
was reached. 

So, considering the trouble, 
he was prone to stay at home 
and bark at any dogs ap- 
proaching, feeling safe when 
cn his own door step. 

But one day he had difficul- 
ty in escaping the larger dogs 



which chased him and being 
unable to get home, he cut 
across country. Being small, 
he succeeded in getting into 
the underbrush and so evaded 
his pursuers. 

In maneuvering about to get 
back to his home, he very care- 
lessly dropped into a large 
hole that had been dug and 
covered over with brush for a 
bear trap. 

Desperately he tried to 
jump out but in vain and final- 
ly, very much exhausted, he 
curled up in a corner. 

Soon a crash was heard and 
into the pit dropped a large 
bear who had walked into the 
hole. 

Now there was presented a 
problem. The dog cringed 
and shivered with fear. The 
bear in desperation, knowing 
his predicament, sought re- 
venge upon the dog as the only 
prey within reach. And so 
the one-sided battle was on. 


The bear tried to crush the* 
little diog but was too slow to 
catch him and the dog, small, 
alert and filled with fear, 
twisted and turned to evade its 
larger opponent. 

Finally very much tired out 
and realizing that the bear 
would eventually capture and 
kill him, the dog did a very 
strange thing. He turned and 
set himself with his little body 
rigid, eyes bulging and mus- 
cles drawn and desperately at- 
tacked the bear. His only 
weapon a mouth, he threw 
himself at the bear’s throat 
and by a chance thus taken 
with his back against the wall, 
he succeeded in severing the 
bear’s jugular vein. 

The bear staggered back 
and the tremendous loss of 
blood soon sapped his life 
away and he died. 

The dog was bewildered for 
a time and could not imagine 
that he was victor. He cau- 



tiously approached the bear 
and fear having left him, he 
set about figuring a way out. 

A bright thought came to 
him and he put it into action. 
He used the body of the bear 
as a platform, and running 
swiftly touched his feet to the 
bear’s body and with a nimble 
jump cleared the top of the 
hole and was free. 

On his way home he did not 
make any short cuts. Rather 
did he head down the main 
avenue, head up and indepen- 
dent. 

Other dogs, as in the past, 
started for him intent upon 
chasing him home, but were 
surprised when the little fel- 
low stood his ground and 
fought back and won. 

Confidence in his own 
strength makes him a very 
happy dog. He goes and 
comes peacefully, never pick- 
ing trouble but meeting the in- 
evitable when it does come. 


other dogs who formerly 
chased him are now pals and 
life is serene and regular. He 
had found himself. 

Moral — We all lead similar 
lives. We are inclined to 
shirk responsibilities. Our bat- 
tles are passed on to others 
and we draw ourselves within 
our shells until we are plumb 
up against it and then we 
make a break. 




A LITTLE GIRUS PETS 


All children are very fond 
of some kind of a pet. It is 
very funny what pets they 
have. There was a little dot 
of a girl in a neighboring state 
who had all kinds of pets. No 
matter what it was so it was 
alive, if she got possession of 
it she would make a pet of it. 

A neighbor woman gave 
her three duck eggs. She 
broufifht them home and told 
her Mam-ma that she wanted 
some little ducks. So her 
Msfm-ma nlaced them under 
an old setting hen and in a few 
weeks three little ducklinorg 
were hatched out. The little 
p-irl fed them and they soon 
knew her and whenever they 
saw her they would waddle up 


to her. They would follow 
her all around her home. They 
would go in single file. As 
they grew up and became 
about full grown she would 
start up town with them. They 
would waddle along behind 
her in single file. 

On the way up town there 
was an old board walk and it 
had several cracks in it. As 
she was going up town one 
day with her ducks she looked 
back to see if they were com- 
ing all right, when behold, 
there were no ducks in sight. 
She went back to look for 
them. She heard a quack but 
she could not just tell where 
the sound came from. Several 
people came out to help her 
find them. Finally they were 
discovered under the walk. 
They had fallen through one 
of the cracks. The boards of 
the walk had to be taken up 
and at last the ducks were got- 
ten out. It was very amusing 


to the town people to see the 
ducks follow her all over town. 

Her father brought home a 
bushel of fresh, live oysters 
from Baltimore. He told her 
she could have some pets if 
she wanted to take care of 
them. He told her to put 
them on the cement cellar 
floor and then get a pan of 
water and put some salt and a 
little corn meal in it and stir it 
well, then take a whisk broom 
and put it in the water and 
sprinkle the water over the 
oysters and see what would 
happen. When she did this 
there was such a sucking done 
by the oysters that it was a 
novelty. 

The whole town were there 
at different times to see her 
feed her oysters. 

She kept them for several 
months and they got real fat 
and finally her mother told her 
that they would have to get rid 
of them as they wanted to use 


the cellar. They were some 
would put them in their box 
and put them in the shed. 
Some way their box tipped 
over and her Mam-ma had oc- 
casion to go out to the shed for 
something and it was dark. 

She could not step for tur- 
tles. This made her slightly 
some of the most delicious 
oysters that any one ever ate. 

At one time she had about 
thirty turtles from the size of 
your hand to that of a wash 
basin. She kept them in a 
box put in the woodshed. 
Every day she would empty 
them out on the lawn and see 
what they would do. After 
playing with them awhile she 
angry as she fell down when 
she stepped on several of them 
and in the morning she made 
her daughter take the turtles 
to the creek and empty them 
out. 

At another time she had a 
pet coon. He was one of the 



most mischievious pets she ever 
had. He would slip down cel- 
lar and skim off the cream off 
the milk. Then he would take 
off a layer of jelly cake and 
sit up with it in his front paws 
and eat it. He would sneak 
into the house and get into the 
cupboard and get at the eat- 
bles. He became such a nui- 
sance that he had to be got rid 
of. Every time that she had 
to part with her pets there was 
almost a scene. She had all 
the dogs and cats in the neigh- 
hood coaxed up and her home 
was almost a menagerie. 



THE GRATEFUL CAT 


A number of years ago a lit- 
tle boy, whom we will call Bil- 
lie, was going down town, his 
attention was called to an al- 
most heart-rending ‘'me-ow/’ 
stopped and listened to see if 
he could tell from whence the 
distressful *‘me-ow'’ came. He 
knew that it indicated that 
somebody’s pussy was in dis- 
tress. 

He looked around about him 
without discovering from 
whence the sound came, and 
he was about tio pass along 
when the ‘‘me-ow” was utter- 
ed with a more piercing sound. 
He looked closer than former- 
ly and he saw something mov- 
ing under a big rock that 



stood near the road, going up 
to it, he found a little kitty 
and she appeared to be fast 
and could not get away for 
some unknown reason to him. 
Upon closer inspection he 
found that the kitty was 
caught in a trap. 

He commenced to try to 
loosen her from her prison. 
He managed to get the kitty 
and trap out from under the 
rock. The kitty was in so 
much pain that she fought 
Billie, trying to scratch and 
bite him, not knowing that he 
was trying to render her a ser- 
vice and to relieve her of her 
torture. 

Billie’s troubles had now 
commenced in earnest. How 
was he to get the kitty out of 
the trap without getting bitten 
or scratched, as the kitty was 
almost frantic with pain. He 
finally placed his foot upon 
the spring of the trap and 
forced it down, so that the 


jaws of the trap stood open, 
but after doing this her foot 
would not come out as the jaw 
of the trap had imbedded it- 
self into the kitty’s leg. A 
happy thought came to him. 
He procured a stick and as he 
pried down on the spring and 
the jaws stood apart he push- 
ed the kitty’s leg from off the 
jaw and she was at last freed. 

When this happened she 
ran a ways and then sat down 
and commenced to lap her in- 
jured foot. Billie kept calling 
kitty, kitty, and at the same 
time going nearer to her. She 
paid no attention to him but 
kept on lapping her leg until 
Billie was able to come up to 
her, all the time calling kitty, 
kitty. He came so close to 
her that he could scratch her 
head. The kitty never stirred 
but kept on licking her leg 
and then finally commenced to 
purr. 

She allowed herself to be 


picked up and Billie took her 
home and had his mother 
bind up her leg and put some 
liniment on it and then he got 
her some milk and fed her. 
She ate as if she had had 
nothing to eat for an age. 

She was so well pleased 
with her treatment that she 
decided to stay there and 
make it her permanent resid- 
ing place. 

Billie and the little kitty 
were great friends. When- 
ever he was at home the kitty 
was sure to find him and to 
purr and rub around him, as 
much as to say that he was 
her best friend. 

Billy’s father ran a store 
and as he kept great quantities 
of grain stored in the ware- 
house, it made it a temptation 
for the rats to make a raid on 
the place, in fact they became 
so bad, that they destroyed a 
large amount of the corn and 
wheat. It became a serious 


question with him, how to get 
get rid of the rodents. 

Billie told him he would get 
rid of them for him. His 
father told him he would get 
him a new suit of clothes if he 
got rid of them. 

Billie took his kitty down 
one night and gave her to un- 
derstand that he wanted her 
to catch rats. 

In the morning when he 
went down to the store, the 
kitty met him at the door and 
rubbed around him and com- 
menced to purr, then she ran 
ahead as much as to say, “let 
me show you something.'’ He 
went along and there on the 
floor were two large dead rats. 

He , went and got the kitty 
some milk and meat, which 
she ate and then went and laid 
down. 

Billie related what he had 
•done and also what the kitty 
had dJone. The next night 
about closing time, there was 



a loud me-ow heard at the out- 
side door of the store. Billie 
went and opened the door for 
kitty to come in. Imagine his 
surprise, little folks when in- 
stead of one kitty, there was 
his kitty and some over a 
dozen more kitties. 

They all ran into the store,* 
and Billie’s kitty appeared to 
be the captain of the brigade. 
She would say something in 
cat talk to one of the kitties, 
and they would go off into one 
corner of the store room, 
where she left the other cat, 
stationed as a guard. She did 
the same with each of the 
other cats until she had them 
all to her liking. Then she 
took her place at a connecting 
door, where the rats had their 
chief run-way. 

Billie was greatly amused 
but he said nothing to anyone 
about it as. he thought he- 
would wait until morning and 
see what the outcome would 


be of this warlike measure. 

In the morning when Billy 
came diown to the store, his 
kitty was the first to greet him. 
With purring and rubbing and 
going ahead of him she 
brought him to a part of the 
store where there was a great 
pile of rats. Upon counting 
them there was found to be 
over thirty dead rats. 

The kitty had found that the 
job was too strenuous flor her 
and she had gone out and mar- 
shalled her friends and stated 
the case to them and they 
gladly came to her assistance 
and helped her to clean up the 
rats. 

This whole outfit of kitties 
were treated to all the meat 
and salmon they could eat and 
plenty of nice milk to wash it 
down. 

Billy always kept his kitty 
and she had the best things 
to eat he could get her. He 
gict his new suit of clothes and 


the rats never bothered this 
place any more. 

Moral — This little story 
shows you children that even 
kitties can be of service to you, 
if you treat them right. 



THE HORSE AND BOY , 


A number of years ago 
when there were saloons in 
every town and little hamlet 
and when “humane officers’’ 
were an unknown quantity, 
there lived on a plantation on 
the outskirts of a county seat 
town, a man by the name of 
Col. Dowd. He was a “hale 
fellow well met,’’ when he was 
not drinking. 

About once a month he 
would come into town early in 
the morning and make a day 
of it in the numerous saloons 
in the town. He always rode 
his favorite saddle horse. 

One morning he made his 
periodical visit. He tied his 
horse to a post along in the 



business district and then he 
hied himself to the nearest sa- 
loon, where he at once com- 
menced to imbibe the stuff that 
steals away a man’s brains 
^ and drains his pockets of his 
cash. He always commenced 
on a mint julep and wound up 
with whisky straight. He 
never would stop until he was 
completely knocked out. 

Little Jimmie Baxter came 
tripping along the street with 
his school books under his arm 
along about 8 o’clock in the 
morning on his way to school. 
As he came by the hoise he 
was attracted to it. He lay 
down his books and went to 
the hitching rail and gently 
stroked the nose of the horse, 
who seemed to like to be ca- 
ressed. 

After fondling the horse a 
few minutes, he picked up his 
books and went on to school. 

When he came from school 
at noon the horse was still 


standing at the hitching post 
and as he saw Jimmie he com- 
menced to 'whinny' much as 
to say, "he was glad to see 
him." Jimmie fondled him 
again, but the horse seemed to 
want something. "What can 
he want?" said Jimmie to 
himself. "Maybe, he wants 
some water." So he untied 
him and took him around to 
the water trough where the 
horse took a good long drink. 
After this he quietly stepped 
back from the trough as if to 
say he had had enough. So 
Jimmie took him back and 
hitched him to the post, but 
still the horse appeared to 
v/ant something. So Jimmie 
went and pulled an armful of 
grass and gave it to him. By 
a slight 'whinny' he told Jim- 
mie, "Thank you." 

Jimmie then went home and 
related at the dinner table all 
about the horse and what he 
had done for him. His par- 



ents told him he was a nice 
boy, but he ought to be care- 
ful around strange horses. 

When he went back to 
school after dinner, the horse 
was glad to see him and came 
up as far as he could, so that 
Jimmie might rub and fondle 
him. 

At night as Jimmie came 
home from school the horse 
told him as plainly as he could 
that he wanted more water 
and more grass. Jimmie gave 
him water and more grass and 
then went home. He told his 
father that the horse was still 
hitched to the post and had 
had no attention from his own- 
er, so his father went out and 
took the horse to a livary 
stable and had him put up, as 
he knew whose horse he was 
and also knew that his owner 
would be in no shape to go 
home that night. 

After stabling the horse he 
went and hunted up Col. 



Dowd. He found him maud- 
lin drunk in a saloon. With 
the assistance of a couple of 
other men he was taken to a 
hotel for the night. 

Along in berrying time, one 
Saturday, Jimmie and some 
other of his boy chums started 
out after berries. Jimmie’s 
mother had him put on his red 
sweater, as she was afraid he 
might need it. They went only 
a short way out of town, ^oing 
out on Col. Dowd’s plantation. 

By some mischance, Jimmie 
became separated from his 
companions and went into an- 
other field, where there ap- 
peared to be more berries. He 
was busily engaged in picking 
berries, when he was suddenly 
aroused by a loud bellowing. 
He looked around to see what 
the disturbance was when he 
was almost stricken dead with 
fear as he saw a large, fierce 
bull making directly for him. 
What to do he did not know. 


He could not get over the 
fence on account of the berry 
bushes, seeing a medium sized 
tree near him, he made for it 
and barely reached the first 
branch when the bull was 
upon him, but fortunately he 
was out of reach.' 

The bull shook his head, 
flirted his tail and pawed up 
the ground, as he was so mad 
in not being able to get his 
prey. He bellowed loudly and 
kicked up the dirt and made a 
great dust. His bellowings 
caused a horse that was in an 
adjoining field to take notice. 
In an instant, the horse took in 
the situation. He took a run 
and lightly jumped the fence 
and came up to the tree where 
the bull had the boy treed. 

The horse saw his young 
friend up the tree and he made 
up his mind to rescue him. He 
commenced to talk in animal 
language to the bull and told 
him that he ought to be asham* 


ed of himself and that he 
should go away and mind his 
own business. It is none of 
your affair and what business 
have you for mixing in said the 
bull. He was just like some 
human beings, who being de- 
tected in some dark and shady 
actions are cautioned by their 
friends to desist and to change 
their tactics. And they ans- 
wer them as the bull did the 
horse, “that it was none of his 
business and for him to attend 
to his own affairs and let him 
alone. “ 

“Well,” said the horse, “I 
will make it my business and 
at once. If you do not get out 
of hero at once I will show you 
whose business it is.” The 
bull shook his head as if to 
hook the horse. The horse 
immediately whirled around 
and commenced to kick the 
bull on the sides and head un- 
til the bull roared with pain 
and gradually moved off down 


to the farther side of the lot. 
He had some broken ribs and 
a horn that was kicked so 
hard that it just hung by the 
skin to his head. 

After the bull had made 
himself scarce, the horse, soft- 
ly whinned and looked up the 
tree as much as to say it is 
safe for you to come down. 
The horse sidled up to the tree 
and the boy climbed down and 
got astride of the horse and he 
was carried across the lot to a 
place of safety. As Jimmie 
got off the horse he stroked 
him with his hand and kissed 
him on the nose. And the 
horse rubbed his head on Jim- 
mie’s shoulder as much as to 
say, that Jimmie was not the 
least bit in debt to him. 

Moral. Never forget a 
favor done, but repay with in- 
terest. 



TOMMY’S PIGGIE BUT 
FATHER’S HOG 


A number of years ago there 
lived down among the long 
leaf pines among the sands of 
what is now Candor, a little 
boy by the name of Tommy. 

Tommy was the youngest of 
a family of thirteen, an un- 
lucky number as it ofttimes 
proved for him. 

Tommy was not favored 
much although he was the 
baby. He had to take what 
the rest of the family did not 
want. He had to wear what 
his older brothers cast off, if 
they ever did not wear out 
their clothes. He had to wear 
shoes too large for him if any 
at all, and his pants he could 
turn around in them and a hat 
he never had. In fact he was 



very much neglected. But he 
was a very contented little lad 
and most anything suited him. 

The family cow was the 
mother of a puny little calf 
that no one thought would 
live. Tommy was much inter- 
ested in it and begged his 
father to let him have it. The 
father, thinking it would die 
soon, told his son he could 
have it. Tommy at once com- 
menced to try and make it live. 
His mother, taking pity on him 
gave him more sweet milk 
than she ordinarily would and 
showed him how to fix it so it 
would be the best for the calf. 
He nursed the calf tenderly 
for days and it commenced to 
show results from the careful 
nursing. 

It was not many weeks be- 
fore the calf was quite strong 
and was very frisky. When- 
ever it saw Tommy it would 
come to him and would follow 
him around like a dog. 



The days grew into weeks 
and the weeks into months and 
still the calf grew until it be- 
came a fine yearling. About 
this time a man came along 
and wanted to buy it. He of- 
fered what was a good price 
in those days and he bought 
and drove it off while Tommy 
was away. 

When Tommy came home, 
he went out to feed his calf 
some fine grass he had pulled 
but he could not find it. He 
hurried into the house and 
asked his mother about it. 
“Why, your father sold the 
calf.’’ “Sold my calf?” “Yes, 
he sold it.” Tommy com- 
menced to cry and would not 
be consoled. 

When his father came home, 
he asked him, why he had- sold 
his calf. 

“I ''didn’t sell your calf. It 
was yours when a calf, but 
mine when a yearling.” 

Tommy could not quite see 


the philosophy of this and 
wanted to know at what 
period in the calf’s life the 
ownership changed. 

Tommy took the matter so 
much at heart, that his father 
said that he would give him a 
pig. There were seven little 
piggies about a week old out 
in the pen and one of them 
was a little runt. ‘ His father 
told him he could have it. 
“No\v, father, don’t rob your- 
self, for you see that is the 
poorest little pig in the lot/’ 
“Now, that is my pig, is it? 
Will it be mine, when it be- 
comes a hog?’’ 

This was a stunner for the 
father, he did not know how 
to answer it. He found that 
he was dealing with a son who 
was young in years, but old in 
experience. 

“Well, we will see about it 
later on,’’ said the father. 

“Now, father, I don’t want 
to be disappointed in this pig 



business as I was in the calf 
deal. If it is my pig, it must 
be my hog, if I take care of it. 
You would not give it to me, if 
you thought it ever would 
amount to anything. Just as 
in the case of the calf. You 
thought it would not live and 
you gave it to me.’’ 

‘‘Well, it will be yours, just 
take care of it and if you can 
make a hog of it, it will be 
yours.” 

Tommy, at once commenced 
to raisee the pig. He took it 
away from the rest and took 
great care of it. Mr. Piggy 
commenced to show improve- 
ment, because he got some- 
thing to eat. He and Tommy 
became great friends and 
whenever the later came 
around where the pig was, it 
instantly ran to him. Tommy 
taught him tricks. He would 
stand upon his hind feet and 
squeal, whenever Tommy told 
him to speak. He always re- 


ceived a reward in something 
to eat, if nothing more than 
the core of an apple. He 
would lay down and be a dead 
pig, when Tommy would say, 
“be a dead pig.’' 

In fact he was taught a 
great many tricks. People 
would come for miles to see 
Tommy and his trick pig. 

So much notoriety did this 
pig get that a showman came 
to Tommy’s home to buy it. 
Tommy did not want to sell 
him but the showman offered 
such a high price that he final- 
ly consented to let him go. 

What happened? The 
father put the money in his 
pocket. Tommy wanted it, 
but the father said that it was 
his hog. “Why, father, you 
told me that it should be my 
pig and my hog.” 

“We will fix that.” So the 
next day the father took Tom- 
my to town and bought him a 
straw hat. And that was all 


Tommy got from the sale of 
his pig. 

Tommy saw the injustice of 
the whole matter. But what 
could he do. A few weeks af- 
terward Tommy came up miss- 
ing and never anything was 
heard of him for years. 

One day, some twenty years 
afterwards a man drove up to 
Tommy’s old home, with a 
span of fine dappled gray 
horses and fine buggy. He 
tied his horses and knocked at 
the door. A gray headed old 
lady appeared. He asked her 
“if he could get lodging for 
himself and shelter for his 
horses.” 

“Well, stranger, we never 
turn any one from our door, 
but our accommodations are 
not very good. If you can 
stand our fare, you are wel- 
come.” 

The stranger accepted the 
proffered offer and drove his 
team to the barn and unhitch- 



ed them and placed them in 
an old tumbled down shed. 
Then he repaired to the house. 

It was not long until the 
man of the house came in. 
Matters were explained to 
him. They fed and watered 
the horses and then sat down 
to a very frugal meal. 

After supper, the stranger 
asked the host if he had any 
yearlings or hogs for sale. 
Finding he had not, he asked 
him about his place, and 
whether it was for sale. The 
host told him he would sell it, 
but he would probably ask 
more for it than he was willing 
to pay. He named his price 
and the stranger said he would 
take it and that they would all 
go to the county seat the next 
day and make out the deed. 

Which was done. “Now, 
how soon can you vacate?” 
asked the man. This was a 
hard one for the old couple. 
This had been their home for 


almost a half century and they 
were to leave it. 

Just here, the stranger said, 
“Father and mother don’t you 
know me?” “I am your Tom- 
my.” 

The old couple were com- 
pletely broken up with sur- 
prise and joy. And there 
never was a more pleasant 
evening spent by any father, 
mother and son than this one. 

He told them how he had 
gone away and worked and 
got an education and by good 
luck had accumulated quite a 
little property and that it had 
always been his desire to make 
their last days happy. He had 
been informed monthly about 
them by a mutual friend, who 
kept him posted for the last 
five years. 

He built them a cozy home 
and fixed up the farm and left 
a fund in the bank for them to 
live on. 

Every few months he would 



make them a visit and saw to 
it that nothing was omitted 
that would prevent them from 
enjoying life. 

Children, do you think that 
the calf deal and the hog sale 
ever came to the mind of the 
old father? You bet it did, 
and how badly he must have 
felt when he considered what 
a noble son he had. 

This old couple lived for 
many years but finally passed 
away with nothing but thank- 
fulness for their little Tommy. 

Moral — Farmers if you 
want to keep your sons on the 
farm, give them an interest in 
things in fee simple and then 
they will stay with you. Don’t 
give them the pig and you take 
the hog. 


THE CAT AND 
THE FISH 


Some years ago, there lived 
a family near the banks of the 
Pee Dee River near Mangum, 
N. C. They sold their place 
and moved away, but they left 
their old cat as an inheritance 
for the coming tenants. 

It was several weeks ere an- 
other family moved into the 
empty house, and in the mean- 
time, Old Thomas had to look 
out for himself and forage for 
his living. 

He would meander down to 
the banks of the river and 
catch fish and make a meal 
upon them. He would pull 
them out of the water with his 
lightning quick claws. 

He was observed one day 
sitting on the bank looking 


right into the dreamy eyes of 
a big catfish, the head of 
which was protruded several 
inches out of the water, with- 
out trying to harm it. 

They appeared to be ex- 
changing “goo goo” eyes with 
each other, and apparently 
were enjoying each other’s 
company. 

Old Tom would bring down 
pieces of food and claw them 
into the water and Mrs. Cat- 
fish would swim around and 
gobble up the food and in re- 
turn she would swim around to 
the edge of the bank and leave 
some small fish she had 
caught. This occurence was 
a daily one and was kept up 
all summer. And was purely 
a love affair and possibly 
would have culminated into 
something permanent had not 
several unfortunate circum- 
stances occured to mar the se- 
renity of it. 

The housekeeper in the new 


family did not take kindly to 
Old Tom and she was deter- 
mined to get rid of him. So 
she hired a boy to put him into 
a box with a stone in it and 
then had the box nailed down 
and had him to throw the 
whole outfit into the river. 

The boy took the box, cat 
and stone to the river bank and 
threw it in and it instantly 
sank to the bottom of the 
river. Poor Old Tom. His 
chances for life were very slim 
if it had not been for the 
watchfulness of Mrs. Catfish. 
She was doing duty and was 
swimming around at the place 
the box and cat were dumped 
and she immediately dove to 
the bottom of the river and 
brought up the box with Old 
Tom in it to the surface of the 
water in her mouth. She swam 
rapidly and ran against a large 
rock that was protruding from 
the water. She did it pur- 
posely, in order to loosen the 


slats on the box. She was go- 
ing with so much speed that 
the box hit the rock a crash- 
ing blow and it flew open and 
Old Tom landed high and dry 
on the rock. 

After Old Tom was freed 
from his perilous position, it 
then became a question, how 
he was to get to the shore as 
he could not swim. Mrs. Cat- 
fish was fertile in schemes and 
she told him to jump into the 
water. He had the most im- 
plicit faith in her and he 
jumped. Mrs. Catfish swam 
around and caught him by the 
neck with her mouth and tow- 
ed him to the shore, where he 
at . once commenced to lick 
himself dry. He very profuse- 
ly thanked her for saving his 
life and told her that he would 
!try and do her a friendly ser- 
vice if occasion ever happened 
for him to do so. 

Old Tom did not go back to 
his old home. He began to 


think that his company was 
not wanted, but he went to a 
neighbor's. Here he was fed 
on milk and bread. He would 
lap the milk but the bread he 
would save and take to his 
sweetheart — the catfish. This 
proceedure was kept up for 
several weeks, until one day as 
Tom was going down to the 
trysting place, he saw a fisher- 
man land a large fish. After 
he took the fish off the hook 
he threw it down on the bank. 
Old Tom recognized the fish as 
being his affinity, and while 
the fisherman was baiting his 
hook. Old Tom rushed up and 
grabbing Mrs. Catfish by the 
fins, with his mouth, he scam- 
pered off with her and drop- 
ped her over the bank into the 
river. The fisherman saw the 
whole performance, but he 
was not quick enough to inter- 
cept the cat and he was out a 
nice fish. 

After this episode they con- 


tinued their courtship until 
cold weather came and the 
river froze over. Old Torn 
did not seem himself. He 
moped about with a dejected 
air and would hardly eat 
Finally the two strange lovers 
found a way to keep their 
tryst by meeting at an air hole 
in the ice. 

However, the tragic end 
came ere the ice thawed out. 
A hunter passing along the 
bank saw the cat out on the 
ice at the air hole and he 
thought it was a mink, watch- 
ing to catch any fish that 
hiight be so foolish as to come 
up to get air, shot him. The 
hunter went out on the ice to 
get his mink, as he supposed, 
but lo, and behold, Mrs. Cat- 
fish forestalled him as she 
drew the dead cat through the 
air hole and probably gave him 
a swell burial in the bed of 
the river. 


THE BLIND HORSE 


Years ago, when oak trees 
were large and plentiful in the 
Northern states, they were cut 
for ship timbers. The bark 
was all peeled off the logs and 
it was corded up like wood and 
left in the woods to dry. Af- 
ter it was thoroughly dried it 
was hauled to the tanneries, 
where it was corded up in 
great piles for future use. 

At the tanneries great pits 
were dug and filled with water 
and the hides of horses, cattle 
and sheep were thrown into 
these pits after lime and 
ground tan-bark had been mix- 
ed with the water. The hides 
were left in these vats for sev- 
eral weeks, but they had to be 
turned daily. This process 


took all the hair off the hides 
and thoroughly tanned them. 

After the hides had been in 
the vats several weeks, they 
were hung out on the fence to 
dry, and when dried, they 
were scraped and then they 
were ready to be made up into 
shoes for the little children 
and harnesses for the horses. 

This tan-bark was ground in 
a mill. The building where 
this particular mill was locat- 
ed was down by the river and 
a bridge connected it with the 
hill-side. 

The mill was something like 
a coffee mill or grinder only it 
was much larger. 

The mill was located in the 
middle of a large circular plat- 
form, upon which a horse trav- 
eled. The horse went round 
and round from day tc day. 
The bark was fed into the mill 
in big slabs by a boy and it 
came out of the mill almost 
as fine as saw dust. The 



horse was started and he 
would keep going without a 
driver after he became accus- 
tomed to his duties. 

At the place we have in 
mind, a horse was- placed in 
here when quite young and he 
kept at it for years and did 
nothing else. When it was 
time to feed and water him, 
he was taken out across the 
bridge and down a lane to the 
main road and then down to 
the river to get some water. 
This became a habit with him 
and he would be loosened at 
the mill and he would go and 
get a drink of water and then 
come back to the stable, where 
he got his dinner or supper as 
the case might be. 

However, the horse com- 
menced to go blind, but he 
kept on going after water as 
usual, alone. In fact, when 
he became totally blind, he 
kept up the habit and never 
made a misstep. He appear- 


ed to know where to go as he 
hud been doing the same 
things for years. 

To people, who did not 
know the history of this poor 
old blind horse, it was a great 
curiosity to see him do his 
daily stunt. 

Moral — The lesson to be 
drawn from this little story, 
children, is, that habits be- 
come so fixed with us, that 
they almost become second na- 
ture to us, and therefore, it 
shows that we should see to it 
that all our habits are good 
habits. 



THE DOG AND THE 
LOST CHILD 


The dog is man’s best friend. 
He may lick and pound him 
and he will turn and lick the 
hand that gave him the pun- 
ishment. 

This story is located in the 
New England states, down in 
the Green Mountain State — 
Vermont— where they have a 
great amount of snow in the 
winter time. Ofttimes the 
snow is so deep that people 
pay no attention to the roads 
but go right over the fences 
across the fields with their 
sleds and sleighs. 

Fifty-nine years ago the fol- 
lowing events occured. Per- 
haps, it would be best to ex- 
plain the surroundings. The 



house that we are about to 
speak of, was built on a hill 
and there was a basement that 
fronted on the road. There 
was adoor in the basement and 
there was a bell upon a stand- 
ard near the building. This 
was used to call the people of 
the house to their meals. 

Well this year at Epiphany, 
it had been snowing for a 
week. One might have thought 
that the world was coming to 
an end. When we would go 
to the windows to look over 
the fields, this immense white, 
frozen country, which shone 
like varnish, would chill our 
very souls. One might have 
thought that the Lord had 
packed the world in cotton to 
put it in the storeroom for the 
old worlds. Indeed it was 
dreary. 

Everything was ready for 
the celebration of Epiphany, 
and the whole household were 
happy, very happy. Every- 



body was in the parlor, await- 
ing dinner, when one of the 
family remarked that there 
had been a dog howling out in 
the fields for about ten min- 
utes; he said, “he must be 
lost/’ 

He had hardly stopped talk- 
ing when the bell on the out- 
side commenced to ring. It 
had the sound of a deep 
church bell, which made one 
think of death. A shiver ran 
through everybody The father 
called to one of the boys and 
told him to go outside and 
look. 

The whole company waited 
in complete silence ; they were 
thinking of the snow which 
covered the ground. When 
the young man returned he 
claimed that he had seen noth- 
ing. However, the dog kept 
up its ceaseless howling, and 
the place whence the voice 
came did not change. 

They all sat down to dinner. 



but were all moved, especially 
the young people. Everything 
went well up to the roast, then 
the bell began to ring again, 
three times in succession, three 
heavy, long strokes which vi- 
brated to the tips of their fin- 
gers and which stopped their 
conversation short. They all 
sat there looking at each other 
fork in air, still listening, and 
shaken by a kind of supernat- 
ural fear. 

Som.e of the men folks went 
out to investigate but after an 
hour’s absence they came back 
and said it was nothing only a 
blasted dog baying at the 
moon. 

Again they sat down to din- 
ner but every one was excited ; 
they felt that all was not over, 
that something was going to 
happen, that the bell would 
soon ring again. 

It rang just as the Twelfth 
Night cake was being cut. All 
the men jumped up together. 


They all started out with guns 
and clubs, ready for any emer- 
gency. 

It had been snowing again 
for the last hour, and the trees 
were weighted down. The 
pines were bending down un- 
der this heavy, livid garment 
and looked like enormous 
white pyramids of sugar cones, 
and through the gray curtains 
of small hurrying flakes could 
be seen the lighter bushes 
which stood out pale in the 
shadow. The snow was fall- 
ing so thick that they could 
hardly see ten feet ahead of 
them. But the lantern threw 
a bright light around them. 

It was discouraging to the 
party as they wended their 
way over the large expanse of 
the fields. All they could see 
was the blinding snow. But 
still the howls of the dog were 
very plain. Some of the party 
wanted to shoot but were re- 
strained from doing so by the 



wiser counsels of the others. 

It will be much better to go 
to him and see what the mat- 
ter is. He may be barking for 
help. He is calling like a man 
in distress. So they all decid- 
ed to go to him. 

So they again started out 
through the mist, through the 
thick, continuous fall of snow, 
which filled the air, which 
moved, floated, fell and chill- 
ed the skin with a burning sen- 
sation like a sharp pain as 
each flake melt^'d. Up to their 
knees they waded in this soft, 
cold fnass, and they had to 
pick their legs up very high in 
order to walk. As thev walk- 
ed on the dog’s voice became 
plainer and plainer, until they 
suddenly cam.e on him. He 
was frightful and fantastic to 
see; he was a big black shep- 
herd’s dog with long hair and 
a wolf’s head, standing just 
within reach of our light, shin- 
ing on the snow. He did not 


move; he was silently watch- 
ing them. He neither advanc- 
ed or retreated. This was 
thought to be strange. There 
was something behind him, 
something gray, impossible to 
distinguish. When the dog 
saw them approaching, he sat 
down and observed them. He, 
in fact seemed pleased to 
think that he had been able to 
attract attention. 

One of the party v/ent up to 
him and rubbed him on his 
head and petted him. The 
dog licked his hand. He was 
found to be hitched to the 
wheel of a little carriage, a 
sort of a toy buggy entirely 
wrapped up in three or four 
woolen blankets. They care- 
fully took off these blankets 
and the light of the lantern re- 
vealed a little baby sleeping 
peacefully. 

The baby and dog were 
taken to the house and they 
were both given a home there. 


The dog nor the baby were 
recognized by no one, but the 
baby must have been left there 
by people who knew the fam- 
ily, and was the offspring of 
well to do people, judging 
from the fine quality of its 
clothing. The baby was a lit- 
tle girl and was brought up as 
a daughter of the family. 

The dog lived to a good old 
age and had the best of care. 

Moral — Investigation is bet- 
ter than to rush into matters in 
a haphazard way. 




THE LITTLE GIRL AND 
THE TOAD 


Every child has seen a toad? 
It is not a pretty thing. It is 
ugly and repulsive, but for all 
that it is of great service to 
the gardener and the farmer. 
The toad does no harm but on 
the contrary does good. 

The idea that a toad, if 
handled will cause warts to 
come on a person is untrue. 
An old superstition that does 
not have a semblance of truth. 

At night, is the time that he 
comes out from his resting 
place and goes to work. It is 
seldom that he ventures out 
much in the day time, but 
Vv^hen the evening shades com- 
mence to fall, he may be seen, 
coming out from under the 


porch or steps or from some 
other concealed place. He 
hops about and if closely 
watched he will be discovered 
busy in catching bugs and flies 
and other insects. By doing this 
he helps the housewife, the 
gardener and the farmer by 
ridding them of a lot of harm- 
ful insects and helps the plants 
and flowers to grow. Which, 
if ha did not do this, the life 
of the plants would be injured 
by the insects. 

Toads lay their eggs in long 
strings, forming double files in 
straight, jelly-like tubes. 

Last summer as a little Troy 
girl was going down the street 
one evening she saw some boys 
punching and prodding some- 
thing alive under the electric 
light. Coming closer, she 
found that they were torturing 
a little toad, which was under 
the electric light, catching 
bugs. 

She stepped up and made 


them desist from their cruel- 
ties upon his toadship, and 
told them they ought to be 
ashamed of themselves for try- 
ing to injure the little toad as 
he was perfectly harmless and 
was doing everybody a favor 
by catching the bugs. 

'‘He is no good and will 
make a person have warts, if 
he handles him,'' said the 
boys. "O, no," said the little 
girl, and suiting her Vv^ords to 
her actions-, she picked up the 
toad with her hands and car- 
ried it home, where she put it 
under a bush and left it. 

Every night the toad would 
come out from under the bush 
and hop around on the walk 
and gather up the dead flies 
as well as to catch the crawl- 
ing and flying insects. The 
dead flies were put out there 
by the little girl so the toad 
would be sure to have a good 
meal. 

A sort of friendship grew 



between the little girl and the 
toad, and the latter would not 
go far away as long as she was 
around. 

This little girl was a great 
lover of flowers and had a 
number of choice roses and 
other plants and the grub 
worms and angle worms were 
eating their foots more or less 
which was hindering their 
growth. She dug around their 
roots and caught as many of 
these worms as she could but 
still they bothered. A happy 
thought occurred to her. Per- 
haps, Mr. Toad might help her 
out, so she took him over to 
one of the shrubs and after 
stirring the ground, she put 
him down near the shrub. He 
appeared to .know what was 
wanted of him and he com- 
menced operations. All of a 
sudden her shrubs commenced 
to take on new life, the wither- 
ed stems started out afresh 
and there was an air of fresh- 



ness about them that was sur- 
prising. She did not know 
what to make of it, so she be- 
gan to take more notice of 
them. 

She not only found her old 
friend, the toad, there, but she 
also found that there were 
toads all about her rose bushes 
and shrubs. 

Undoubtedly, Mr. Toad had 
gone out and called on his 
brother toads and asked them 
to help him in doing a favor to 
the little girl, who had saved 
his life. 

The toads were so well 
pleased with their pleasant 
surroundings that they made 
their home around this little 
girFs home for months. At a 
given time each night a toad 
could be seen coming out from 
under the back steps, one from 
the side steps and others from 
the front porch and others 
around the flower pit. They 
all knew that they had nothing 



to fear from anyone in this 
liome. And they showed their 
appreciation by keeping the 
worms, ants and other insects 
from injuring the flowers. 

Moral — This story teaches 
the children that they should 
not harm the homely toad as 
he does us a great service, al- 
though he is ugly looking. The 
homely are often more pleas- 
ant than the good-lookers. 





THE HEN FINDS A 
GOLD MINE 


Away back in the nineteenth 
century there lived down 
among the sand dunes near the 
Little River in Montgomery 
County a very poor family. It 
consisted of a father and 
mother and seven small chil- 
ren. Their home was a poor 
old shack that barely served 
them a shelter. The roof was 
so poor that the rain would 
leak through in the time of a 
storm and the weather board- 
ing had shrunk so badly that 
daylight could be seen through 
the cracks. It had been made 
of green lumber. 

The question of keeping the 
wolf from the door was a seri- 
ous question with the father 
and the mother. Their home 



was among the long leaf pines 
and just barely enough land 
had been cleared to admit of 
the little hut, they called their 
home. Their pigs ran almost 
wild in the forest and at nights 
they would come up to the 
house to get what scraps they 
might find. They had a poor 
old cow that furnished them 
some milk and a lot of chick- 
ens that roosted in the pine 
trees about the house. 

With the milk they got from 
the cow, with a little meal that 
they were able to get by ex- 
changing work with some dis- 
tant neighbors, and the eggs 
their hens furnished them, and 
the wild berries that grew pro- 
fusely, and the meat their hogs 
made for them, they were able 
to eke out a mere existence. 
Clothing was their most seri- 
ous trouble to procure. They 
barely had enough to hide 
their nakedness. 

Such was their condition at 


the beginning of this little 
story. But Dame Fortune had 
something better in store for 
them, but they were not aware 
of the fact at that time. 

It was very difficult for the 
little boys and girls of this 
family to keep track of the 
hens and to find their nests. 
The hens would steal their 
nests away and they were hard 
to discover. But the little fel- 
lows kept a close watch upon 
them and were able to get 
most of the eggs. 

The family had been out of 
meat for some time and they 
were almost famished for it. 
The mother finally solved the 
question. There were several 
hens that ran away and laid 
their eggs and the children 
were unable to find their nests. 
So the mother decided to kill 
off these hens and cook them 
and furnish her meat famished 
family. 

Acting upon this idea, she 



killed one of the plumpest of 
the run-away hens. While 
picking and dressing it she dis- 
covered something shiny in its 
craw. She saved it and show- 
ed it to her husband. He at 
once knew it was gold. A 
small nugget. He told her 
what it was and cautioned her 
about telling any one. He 
also told her that she and the 
children should watch those 
run-away hens and see where 
they went, if possible. 

A careful watch was kept 
upon the hens and at last they 
were found along the small 
stream that flowed near their 
home. They were seen to pick 
up the sand along the brook. 
Another of these hens was 
killed and another small piece 
of gold was found in her craw. 
The husband then was satisfi- 
ed the hens got their gold 
along the creek. That set him 
to thinking. He took an old 
skillet and went down to the 


creek and filled it with sand 
and washed it out. To his sur- 
prise he found quite a quantity 
of gold specks in his pan. He 
kept at it all day and by night 
time he had several penny- 
weights of the precious stuff. 

Secrecy was enjoined upon 
the whole family and they all 
worked there for weeks until 
they had quite a quantity of 
gold. 

After accumulating quite an 
amount, he went to Salisbury, 
where he sold his gold to good 
advantage, having about $500 
worth. 

With part of it he bought 
clothing and supplies for his 
family. He also went to an 
attorney and found out what 
he must do to secure his rights. 
The lawyer tried to find out 
where he got his gold but our 
Rube was too sTiarp for him, 
and slipped away in the night 
so that he would not trail him 
down. 


He arrived home safely in 
due time and his little family 
was made happy with the 
much needed clothing, shoes 
and eatables. 

He immediately established 
his claims upon the find and 
made it legal proof. 

It was not long until this 
gold find was heralded all over 
the country. People flocked 
here in great numbers and of- 
fered him great sums for his 
claim, but he would not sell it 
all. But he sold enough of it 
to make him comfortable all 
the rest of his life. 

He moved to town, built him 
a good house and sent his chil- 
dren to school. They and their 
descendants are now some of 
the best people of the Old 
North 'State. 

Moral — Always do your 
best no matter what your lot. 










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